


A Shoulder to Cry On

by TheAngryWeasel



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol, Depression, Drabble, Hurt/Comfort, Incest, M/M, Stridercest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-02-08 14:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1944147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAngryWeasel/pseuds/TheAngryWeasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave finds that maybe his Bro isn't as confident as he'd like to appear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Shoulder to Cry On

You open the door to your apartment, stepping inside and sighing in relief at the air conditioning.

“Bro, I’m home.” You start walking towards your room, straightening your shades. Bro just ‘hmf’s at you from his spot on the futon, taking a drink from his beer. You continue to your room, dropping  your backpack but the door and falling face first onto your bed. After awhile, you realize, that of course, you have to use the bathroom. You sigh, dragging yourself out of bed and to said bathroom.

Once you’re finished in there, you’re about to open the door when you hear Bro muttering to himself.

“Wow, what a great brother I am, oh go and drink it all away, that’ll help.”

What.

Bro was a great brother. And he was always so full of himself, where the fuck did this come from?!

You hear him sigh, get up and walk to his bed, and fall onto the bed with a groan. As bad as you were with dealing with emotions, you sure as hell weren’t gonna just leave him like that. You open the door and creep to the doorway, peering inside. Bro was... shaking?

... Oh god. Was he... crying?

Shit.

You walk in silently, going and sitting next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“...Bro?” You say in a soft voice. “Are you okay?” You feel him tense beneath your fingers, and he doesn’t respond.

“C’mon, you know you can tell me.”

“It’s fine.” His voice is still choked with tears, and you sigh, your voice quieter, more reserved this time.

“Bro, I told you about the game, and how I got to know an alternate version of you pretty well. I can read you better than you think, better than you can read me, apparently.” Because if he could read you like you read him... well he’d have figured out how you feel about him by now. “But I care about you, a lot, so please, tell what’s wrong. I want to help you, Bro.”

“You can’t help.” You sigh, your hand sliding into your lap.

“Look... I heard what you said. You are in no way a bad brother-”

“It isn’t of your concern, leave it alone.” You ignore him.

“You’re better than I could ever hope for, Bro. Please, don’t think of yourself that way.”

“... Stop it. Just be quiet.”

“No! What makes you think you’re such a bad older brother anyways? You’ve never done anything wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Like hell it doesn’t. Tell me. I won’t leave until you do.”

“... Then don’t leave.” ... Wait.

He didn’t want you to leave, did he? Oh. You put your hand back on his shoulder, rubbing it in what you hope was something soothing.

“... You don’t have to tell me. But please know that I don’t think you’re a bad brother. Hell, in the game you fucking died to save me. If that isn’t being a good brother, I don’t know what is.” You hear him sniffle softly. “And I’m here for you too. Just cause I’m younger doesn’t mean you have to hide it from me; I can support you too.” Bro doesn’t respond, just curling up tighter and shaking harder. You lay down, curling yourself around him the best you could.

“... I love you, Bro.” you say softly, slipping an arm around him. “Always have.”

“... Love you too.” You can’t help but smile a bit at that, despite him not meaning it in the way you did, and squeeze him a bit tighter. Bro rolls over, burying his face in your shirt, and you pull him close, surprised at how small and weak he felt. Kissing his forehead, you feel him tremble and clutch at your shirt as he starts to cry harder. You take your shades off and set them aside so you can rest your forehead against Bro’s.

“... You make him sound so wonderful... I could never live up that.” Bro murmurs softly, gripping your now tear stained shirt tighter.

“Him?” you ask, confused. “I’m talking about you, Bro.” He shakes his head.

“The other Bro. In your game thing or whatever.” You sigh quietly.

“It was still you, just before the game reset everything.”

“No, it was a different me.”

“No,” you tell him firmly, “It wasn’t. I realize it might be hard to understand, but it’s true.” He curls closer to you, and you pull him closer against you, holding him tightly.

“And even if you weren’t the same, I wouldn’t love you any less.” You rub his back in what you hope is a soothing manner, until he speaks again, voice quiet and choked.

“... How could anyone love me?” Your eyebrows crease in concern for your older brother, and you pull back a bit so you can gently grab his face and tilt it so he was looking at you.

“Bro.”

“... What?”

“You are a wonderful person, you care so much for me, and even though you might not be close with very many people, you care a lot about the people you are close with. You always put others first, not even thinking about yourself until everyone else is taken care of first. You fucking raised me, taught me everything I know. It’s cause of you I’m still here today.” Bro frowns, pulling away from you and curling up tightly again. “You know, when you died in the game, I-”

“Stop it...”

“Used to- oh... did... did I say something wrong?” Bro shakes his head, and sits up, tears still dripping down his face.

“Just... stop talking.” He reaches out, pulling you into his lap.

“Wha- oh... okay then.” He wraps his arms around you, holding you close and burying his face in your hair. You slip your arms around him to pull him even closer, rubbing his back in small, soothing circles.

You sit like that for a long time, just holding each other. After who knows how long, he pulls away a bit, enough to slip his shades off and set them aside, which surprised you. Bro never took off his shades, even in front of you. You look up slowly, meeting his eyes. You’d almost forgotten what they looked like. But as soon as you saw them, you wondered how it was possible to forget them; they were beautiful. A sort of amber-y color, with splashes of honey and gold in the shadows, so different from your own striking red ones. His were gentle, welcoming, but so sad. There were still a few tears falling from his eyes, and you lift a hand to brush some of them away with your thumb, your hand lingering on his face, not wanting to stop. After a moment of staring into his eyes, you snap back to reality and let your hand drop, casting your gaze away, anywhere but him as you feel a light blush creep into your cheeks, and you’re glad for the darkness.

Suddenly, there’s a hand on the back of your head and another on the small of your back, tugging you closer.

“....Thank you, Dave.” He kisses the top of your head, and you feel the heat rise in your cheeks. “Thank you so much.”

“It... It’s not a problem, not at all. I want to help however I can.” You bury your face in his shirt, hugging him tightly again. “Anytime you need me... just come find me, okay?” You feel him nod, and kiss your head again, and you smile lightly, snuggling a bit closer. You can feel his heart beating quickly, probably from the crying. You sit there, listening to his heart beat for a while, and when it doesn’t slow down, you’re confused, but you refrain from saying anything.

God, you loved him. And not in the way you should, as you are all too painfully aware. He was your brother for God’s sake, and he sure as hell wasn’t interested in you like that. He was your guardian, your brother, who taught you everything. And you, like the fool you are, fell in love with him.

Bro starts to rub your back gently, and you relax against him, closing your eyes. After a minute or so, however, your mind starts to wander, imagining his hands pushing your shirt up, while those lips of his kissed your neck and-holy shit. You stop that thought before it goes any farther; you didn’t need to be popping any boners while you were sitting on Bro’s lap. Instead you just nuzzle into the crook of his neck, resisting the urge to press light kisses there.

“... I love you Dave... you know that, right?” He pulls back, enough so you could see his eyes.

“‘Course I do.” You smile a bit, one hand sliding back around him to rest on his chest. “I love you too.” Bro smiles too, leaning down to put your foreheads together. You can’t stop your smile from widening; you almost never get this kind of affection from him, and you were gonna savor it while you could.

Except that his face was getting closer. Holy shit, holy shit. His face was centimeters from yours. What. How was this happening. You were so confused.

After what seemed like both an eternity and an instant, your lips meet. You both stay still for a moment, but you start to press into the kiss, wrapping your arm around his neck. Or at least trying to; Bro pulled back, looking away, a pained expression on his face.

“... Bro?”

“I’m sorry. That was stupid of me.”

“No, Bro, it’s fine, mor-”

“No it isn’t. You’re my little brother. I’m not allowed to love you, not like that.”

“But Bro-”

“Besides, you probably hate me now, you’re just trying to be nice.”

“Bro!” You finally get him to shut up. You take a breath, looking right into his eyes. “It’s fine. More than fine, in fact.” You smile lightly, reaching up to brush a thumb across his cheek. “Because I love you too.” His eyes widen.

“... You do?”

“Yes, I do. I have for a long time now.”

“... Oh.” He smiles softly, and leans down to give you a quick kiss. You smile back and kiss his cheek, and snuggle back him again, murmuring against him.

“...Love you.”

“Love you too.” You smile. Everything was gonna be alright, you were gonna be sure of that.

 

 


End file.
